What Matters Most
by jennytork
Summary: Gemini AU. Missouri meets Gemini. Incorporates the events of "Home".


WHAT MATTERS MOST

 _THEN_

"Dean...if we're going to do this, to _be_ this – we can't have secrets."

"I agree. We can't. Especially with you living in my head when we're Gemini."

Sam took a deep breath. "Then you need to know – I-I'm a bit of a freak."

"So am I, dude. It's called being half of one person-"

"No, Dean. I-I mean... I have dreams. Nightmares. And sometimes...sometimes they come true."

Dean just stared at him for a long moment, then he curled his hand against the back of Sam's neck. "What affects one, now affects both," he said with emotion. "We'll deal."

 _NOW_

Sam let out a choked gasp as he jerked awake, sitting straight up in bed and knocking Dean to the floor as he flailed.

Dean sat up, knuckling his eyes. "What was that?"

"...dream...uuuugh!" Both hands flew to Sam's forehead, and he rocked back and forth, gasping with the pain.

Dean clambered back onto the king-sized bed, suddenly ridiculously grateful for the convention in the podunk town that had closed down all the other rooms in the motel. He'd possibly have slept through this. "Last time you dreamed and woke up like this-"

Sam nodded miserably, his pain-filled voice joining his brother's to finish the sentence. "It was one of those vision-dreams."

Neither of them had noticed their unison-speak becoming more frequent, and they probably wouldn't have cared if they had.

Dean's fingers curled over Sam's shoulder. "Need painkillers?" At his groan, Dean crawled off the bed, returning with three ibuprofin and water. Once they were down and Sam was laying back onto the pillows, Dean stretched out beside him and asked, "So what was it?"

"Can I just...show you?" Sam asked miserably.

For answer, Dean snapped the fingers of his left hand.

Gemini lay on the bed a moment later, his slanted dark eyes unfocused as the images from Sam's vision skittered through his mind.

When the replay ended and the brothers rolled apart to lay side-by-side on the bed, Dean was shaking. "What is it?" Sam asked, running a palm over his arm as if to warm him. "What's the matter?"

"I know that house," Dean whispered, his eyes huge and unfocused, replaying the images they'd both seen. "It's 153 Conover Street...Lawrence, Kansas."

Sam frowned. "How do you know that address so precisely?"

"I've known it since I was three. Dad made me memorise it." He shivered. "It's our house, Sam. Where we were both born. Where Mom-"

Sam squeezed his arm. "And this new family..."

"How far away are we?" Dean asked.

Sam sat up, eyes unfocusing as he traced a route in his head – a trick of Dean's that the brothers now shared. "Driving, about a day and a half. Gemini could be there in four hours."

"We'll go in the morning, then," Dean said. "I'll find the Impala a place to wait, and we'll fly there."

Sam swallowed, nodding. "You felt that, too, huh?"

"Yeah." They locked eyes, and finished in unison.

"This can't wait."

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

The last client of the morning was out of the door, and a humming Missouri Mosely went into her kitchen to check on her lasagna. She had no idea why she had made such a large batch, but she knew from experience all would be revealed.

She was standing from closing the oven and moving to check on the vegetables bubbling on the stovetop when her head snapped up, dark eyes going huge.

"...boys?" she whispered, her eyes darting across the kitchen and then rising to the sky.

She bolted out her back door and looked up into the cloudless Kansas sky. Her jaw dropped as a trail of fire shot across it, heading due west of her house – and lowering.

"...oh my stars," she whispered. "...what the hell has happened to you..."

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

Gemini touched down behind a motel and set down the four duffels he carried. Then Sam stepped out, and Dean swayed. "Least you waited till we were on the ground," he teased.

Sam chuckled and found a wallet in one of the duffels. "Let me get checked in, and we'll get started."

"Wonder if Donovan's is still here," Dean said as he shouldered two of the duffels and followed his brother.

Sam walked to the front desk and checked in. He turned back, asking, "We've not been here in several years – is Donovan's still around?"

Dean smiled as the clerk answered yes, it was, and it still had the best food in Lawrence.

As they entered the room, Sam laughed, "Guess we're having a lunch break before we get to work."

"Yeah, we work best on a full stomach," Dean teased. They set the duffels down on the nearest bed and Sam headed for the bathroom with their combined overnight bag.

Since they flew in, they packed really light. The weapons duffel was non-negotiable, but they combined their clothing into one bag.

The other two bags held their laptops and various other things they might potentially need.

After a trip to Donovan's – which led to Sam's enthusiastic agreement with Dean that Donovan Martin's family made the best damned burgers ever – the brothers found themselves on Conover Street.

Jenny Sullivan was a sweet young woman looking for a new start. She had two young children, a really down-to-earth practical attitude – and a plumber who had just lost his hand in her kitchen.

The brothers flew in to help clean up the mess, and as they talked, both grew increasingly uneasy. There was something very wrong in the house.

Unsure of how to proceed, though, they left with an increasingly unsettled feeling and loose ends.

Dean snapped his fingers – right-handed – and pointed at Sam. "Dad! Dad went to a woman named Missouri Mosely right after the fire..."

"So if we go talk to her," Sam interrupted.

"We should find answers," they finished together.

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

Missouri flung open her front door before they could knock, leaving them both blinking in shock.

They walked inside, and she studied them. "Boys," she said, studying them with wide eyes. "I have done this for many, many years... and I have _never_ seen anything like the two of you."

They looked at each other, then back at her. "What do you mean?" they asked in perfect unison.

"Let me see him," she said, stepping back from them. "Let me see this single person you can become."

Again, they looked at each other. Sam's head inclined subtly toward Dean, and he nodded, raising his left hand.

A snap of the left hand's fingers, a tiny flare of light, and one man stood before Missouri.

She circled him slowly. An average of their heights, perfectly proportioned. All their jewelry. Dean's t-shirt under Sam's jacket. Dean's jeans with Sam's belt. Dean's boots.

She studied his face. Dean's features. Sam's distinctive birthmark and slanted hazel eyes. Sam's hair length and style in a brilliant fire-red that neither boy possessed.

"And your name, child?" she asked in an awed whisper.

"Gemini." Dean's voice. Sam's inflections. "We're called Gemini like this."

"And – inside – you are-?"

"Dean. And Sam. We're both aware in here."

She touched his cheek. "My stars, boys – what are you?"

"A friend," Gemini said with a warm smile. "And I'm only here to help."

Gemini let Missouri ask him a few more questions – origin, abilities, limitations – then he said gently, "Missouri, we need to get to work."

"Yes... the old Winchester house."

Gemini smiled and then the boys just seemed to – step apart. Sam nodded and Dean's head lifted, as if he were scenting the air. "Yeah," Sam said. "You see, there's something-"

"—delicious," Dean finished. "Is that lasagna I smell?"

Sam's nostrils flared. "I think it is."

Missouri laughed. "Now I know why I made such a huge batch! Business over an early supper, boys. Follow me."

Dean helped her set the table. Sam poured drinks for them all. Missouri threatened to whap Dean with a spoon when he had a mental imagining of juggling her plates.

When they were all sitting and eating, Missouri mused, "Good meals must be few and far between, being the nomads that you are."

"Yes, ma'am," Dean said, carefully swallowing first. "But you just -"

"Appreciate them more when they come," they finished in unison before tucking back in.

"So tell me what you know about the trouble on Conover Street," Missouri said conversationally.

The Winchester boys' eyes met. Dean nodded, and Sam sighed, putting his fork down. "I have dreams, Missouri. And sometimes they come true."

She listened, nodding in complete understanding. "And you had one about this house."

"Yeah," they chorused, then Sam went on, "There was this woman – I know now it was Jenny Sullivan – pounding on the window of an upstairs bedroom and screaming as something dark behind her-"

"Your nursery," Dean said softly. "If that floor was built with the same floor plan, that used to be your nursery."

Sam hissed, realising what Dean was getting at. "It's the same thing that killed Mom?"

"You don't know that yet," Missouri cut in. "Let's not go in there with any pre-conceived notions about this thing."

Missouri went with them and 'read' the house. She was startled to find there were two spirits here – one benevolent and one not. She sent Jenny and her children to the movies while the three of them set about making hex bags to protect the house.

"I need this installation done by six hands, not four," she told them. "Stay apart unless you're needed, okay?"

They agreed and each took a floor. Missouri the basement, Dean the main floor, and Sam upstairs. They were nearly finished when Dean's head snapped up from his work.

Missouri came up the stairs. "Dean, you-" But he was already on his feet and running up the stairs. "-need to go to your brother," she finished speaking to empty air. "That's amazing – part of Gemini remains when they're apart, then." She picked up the abandoned hex bags and bent to Dean's abandoned task.

Upstairs, a quick left-handed snap got Sam out of the cord that threatened to cut off his air. Gemini immolated the cord and used his fire powers to burn holes for last two hex bags.

He glided downstairs to help Missouri, and announced his presence by firing a blast and destroying a tableful of knives that was heading toward her unprotected back.

She gasped, whirling around after placing the final bag. "You _are_ here to help," she breathed. "You're nothing _but_ helping..."

She was rewarded by a slight, shy smile from Gemini before his feet touched the hardwood floor and the boys stepped apart.

"Now that the hex bags are all placed," she said with a smile, "the danger should be over."

They nodded, and Sam said, "Uh, would you be offended if we-"

"If you stuck around to make sure?" Missouri smiled. "Boy, you're a Winchester. And you're half of a pure helper. I'd be surprised if you _didn't_ make sure."

Missouri brought them some more lasagna as they kept vigil. She left them alone to eat and watch the house.

Near four AM, Dean hit Sam's arm. "Sammy."

Sam looked up and saw the vision come to horrifying life. Jenny was in the window of the former nursery, something dark behind her, pounding on the window and screaming silently.

Neither of them remembered closing the car doors behind them – and later, they would realise they didn't – or which of them snapped their fingers. But Gemini soared up, gesturing for Jenny to move out of the way.

Jenny jerked her body to the left, out of the window, and Gemini thrust his hand forward. The glass gave way under an onslaught of flame, and the creature behind Jenny roared as it was clipped by the burst.

Gemini glided in, and spun to put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you hurt?"

"Just...Just scared..." she stammered.

"Get your kids and get out of here!"

Jenny didn't have to be told twice. She grabbed her son and handed him to her daughter, who ran down the stairs with him with her mother yelling, "Take your brother outside as fast as you can!"

Gemini shuddered as memories of identical words in a similar situation hit him.

 _Take it easy, we need to focus!_ Sam's voice rang in his head.

"We're focusing," Gemini said aloud, whirling to face the dark form as a human form on fire walked into the room.

 _Oh, shit, there's two of them!_ Sam groaned.

Gemini braced himself, not sure how his fire powers would affect a being made of fire. Then he was dodging a thrown piece of furniture, blasting it to ashes.

He found himself slammed into the wall by telekinetic force, but able to break it since he had the strength of two already strong men fused into one.

The being on fire stepped forward, turning into a beautiful blond woman and making Gemini freeze in mid-air, hovering as he gasped out one word.

"... _Mom?_ "

The blonde woman smiled at Gemini and told him she was sorry.

Gemini frowned. "What...What for?"

She smiled enigmatically. "I am so proud of you. Don't ever forget that, boys. _So_ proud." She turned and stepped into the middle of the room, glaring at the ceiling.

"And _you_ ," she said, her voice crackling with power. "Get. Out. Of. My. House." She took a deep breath. "And _leave my boys alone._ "

She turned to fire again and rose toward the shrieking mass on the ceiling.

 _"Help me, boys!"_ shrieked in Gemini's head.

He raised his hands and poured fire into the mass, on either side of her. There was a scream, then a shriek, then a sucking, popping noise.

Then there was nothing but silent stillness.

Gemini sagged to the floor, on his hands and knees, panting hard.

Then Sam rolled to the side, collapsing onto the floor. Dean sagged onto his side and they lay there, their chests heaving as they struggled to draw in air.

It was over.

 _SPN GEMINI SPN_

Missouri scanned the house completely. She found no trace of the poltergeist or of Mary Winchester.

Jenny and her children were relieved and there were hugs all around.

Missouri held the Winchesters long after Jenny and her children had gone inside. "You be careful, now," she told them as they got back into their rental car.

After the nearly all-nighter they'd pulled as Gemini, they were too shaky to fly the four hours back to the Impala. So they were going to drive back to the dependable car's side – even though they knew they'd have to rest on the way.

It would feel good to get out of Lawrence.

"We'll be careful," they chorused, smiling at Missouri.

She nodded. "And you keep helping, you hear me?"

Their smiles grew and Sam spoke for both. "We can't do anything else, Missouri."

"Yeah," Dean put in, "Gemini seems to be just made out of helpfulness."

With that, they put the car in gear and drove on down the road.

Missouri watched until they were out of sight, then she walked to her own home and walked right in. "I swear," she said, shaking her head. "Those boys. All that power between them, and neither one of them could sense his own father."

John Winchester raised his head and studied her. "Was I right, then? Is that fire elemental dangerous?"

"Of course he's dangerous, John," Missouri said, looking steadily at him. "He harnesses a force of nature. But I can tell you this." She sat on the coffee table and bored her eyes into his, and her voice lowered to sincere steel.

"He's dangerous. But he's _good_. His sole purpose is to _help_."

John shook his head, stunned. "But...but he's a creature created by something supernatural..."

"Have you read Genesis, John?"

Blinking at Missouri, he shook his head. "Just the basic stories...why?"

"When Joseph's brothers are confronting him, he tells them that this might have begun by evil – but God meant it for good." Missouri bored her eyes into his. "That is that elemental. He might have begun by evil – but he is meant for and only is used for good."

"What is he, Missouri?" John asked, sounding broken. "How do I get it to leave my boys alone?"

"That's just it, John," Missouri said firmly. "You don't."

 _END_


End file.
